We invited writers to explore Issue Two: Reflection. We want works that peer into the depths of experience and emerge with something raw, honest, and uniquely theirs.
Issue Two authors unraveled the weight of introspection, showing us that reflection is not always gentle. It can be a sharp incision, exposing what we would rather keep hidden, as in a piece where an open chest becomes both metaphor and reality. Others traced the weight of inherited sorrow, where fire is both wound and inheritance, searing the past into the present.
And yet, reflection is also a quiet act of creation. It demands that we listen, speak, and reach beyond the silence to heal what has been broken.
For silence kills where love could start. — Claire Jeon
We opened the range of possibilities for Issue One: Freedom, and part of freedom is not writing about freedom. There was no rules on the topic, style, or form of the poem. With this issue, we encouraged writers to take bold risks, embracing the weird and bizarre to create works that are truly their own—works that explore veracity.
Issues one authors did exactly that. They reminded us that grief is complicated and multifaceted, weaving through denial, anger, acceptance, and the spaces in between, as seen in one piece where the memory of a lost brother blurs the lines between nostalgia and pain. They showed us that freedom is not always liberation—it can be a cage of false promises, cultural erasure, and historical scars, as another writer grappled with identity and resistance.
Yet, freedom can also be rediscovered in the quiet moments of mindfulness, as one poem tenderly reminds us to pause, to exist, to feel the breeze on our necks and the hues of the sun.
Enjoy.
